Improving unmanned aerial vehicle pilot training and operation for flying in cluttered environments

Future applications will bring unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to new environments such as urban areas, causing a change in the way that UAVs are currently operated. However, UAV accidents still occur at a much higher rate than the accident rate for commercial airliners. Therefore, there is a need to better train UAV pilots and augment their performance to minimize accidents. In this paper, the authors present two methods for generating a chase view point (similar to the view of being towed behind the aircraft). Through use of these viewpoints, the authors propose to increase the situational awareness of UAV operators when flying in cluttered environments. The chase view combines a rotated onboard camera view with a virtual representation of the vehicle and the surrounding operating environment. Experiments were conducted evaluating a chase view versus a traditional onboard camera view during UAV flights using a 6 DOF gantry system. Results showed that the chase view improved UAV operator performance.